Our experts critique each new Halloween Terror legendary skin

There are a few holiday traditions that warm our heart. First, there’s pouring a nice hot cup of spiced rum and sipping it while watching the autumn leaves fall. Second, there’s dressing up in a costume to hand out candy to the kids trick of treating. Finally, there’s getting incredibly, unreasonably opinionated about which Overwatch holiday skins are the best. Sure, that last bit’s a young tradition, but the whole Witch Mercy debacle last year really kicked it off. This year, we get eight whole legendary skins to argue over. At Heroes Never Die, we pride ourselves on having strong opinions on optional skins, so we tasked Cass and Ryan with breaking down each new skin.

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - A tier

This is the Ana skin I’ve needed my entire life, i just didn’t realize it. Everything, from her silk sleeves to her heavy rings, screams ‘class’. Ana’s had it rough, she deserves the chance to sail the high sees and plunder lesser ships. I have no criticisms of this skin. From concept to execution, it’s perfect. Every time I see it, I involuntarily kiss my fingers like an Italian chef. It also helps that her previous skins have been kind of weak, so this fills a void.

Ryan - B tier

I love Ana and I think this skin is just about fine. It’s fine. I like it. It’s fine. If it drops, I’m happy because I love playing Ana. If it doesn’t, I have lots of other Ana skins I wouldn’t mind using instead. That being said, that is a big-ass bayonet and that’s pretty neat. Also, that parrot is my best friend.

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - C tier

This skin is... fine? It’s fine. It’s a perfectly competent Reaper skin. I mean, if anyone deserves two Halloween legendaries, it’s the guy named Reaper. That being said, it’s not lighting my world on fire, either. I’d like to see something a little more dramatic, a little less safe. After BMX Reaper, this feels like a step back into the comfort zone.

Ryan - C tier

Man this skin is boring. Jeez. I will and have defended Reaper from the “wow what an edgelord lol” hatred, but I can’t defend this one. Last year, he had a flaming pumpkin for a head and a big coat with the collar popped and it was super dope. They kept the popped collar (which is actually way cool this time around) and then made the most boring skin they could think of. Cass mentions BMX Reaper, which was a weird skin that I didn’t like that much. BUT it was different. This is what I imagine Reaper’s sweaty head looks like when he takes off the pumpkin from last year. Bram Stoker would be bummed and I am too.

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - A tier

This was one of the few skins I actually really wanted from Halloween, and even though I didn’t get Plague Doctor Ana, I’ll happily accept Van Helsing McCree as tribute. This is one of those skins that the community has been clamoring for, and it’s awesome to finally see it show up. It also manages to stand out from Blackwatch McCree, thanks to the orange and red, and who doesn’t love leather and brass?

Ryan - C tier

First, I really hate McCree. You know how people look at Reaper and think he is annoying? That happens for me when I see this BAMF belt buckle wearin’ dumb ass. Anyway, this skin is so boring that I can’t muster up anything to say about it and will now spend the rest of this paragraph complaining about McCree. When did the coolness threshold for having a robotic arm drop this far? Stop rolling around it makes you look like an asshole. Where did you even get all those flash bangs? The revolver is a really impractical weapon for your current work environment. You have tacky taste in boots. Graves did the cigar thing better. Your hair and mustac...

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - B tier

This skin is fine? It’s cute? I’m not a Mei fan, or into Chinese ghost stories, so I think it’s super cute (especially with the hopping emote), but it’s also solidly Not For Me. That’s fine, honestly, because even though I have exquisite taste, I have been reliably informed that people who are not me often play this game.

Ryan - S tier

Considering that Zenyatta, the love of my life, has an incredible skin this time around it makes what I am about to say very hard. OK. This Mei skin is the best skin in all of Halloween Terror. Mei is not my favorite hero in Overwatch, but I love Chinese movies and I especially love Chinese horror. The Jiangshi, or Chinese hopping vampire, is an incredible tradition. To see such an awesome reference in Overwatch is great. If you haven’t ever heard of Jiangshi, I cannot recommend the Hong Kong made film Rigor Mortis (2013) enough. It is a modern Jiangshi movie and super fun. God this skin is so good. I love it.

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - B tier

Much like Dracula Reaper, this is a perfectly well executed skin that I can’t bring myself to feel emotions about. Torbjorn keeps getting skins, and he remains such a boring character. Also, how can I play him when I am haunted by the troubling implication that he’s a bad father? Shameful.

Ryan - B tier

I like this skin and I like Torbjorn. That is about all of the excitement I can muster for either of those things. Seriously though, this skin is pretty cool and, as usual, well designed. It isn’t actively boring like some of the others but it is pretty forgettable. This skin is fine and I have positive feelings about it.

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - S+ tier

This skin cured my clinical depression. After seeing this skin, I looked in a mirror and saw a youthful glow and clear, unblemished skin underneath my eyes. I left my apartment and ran into the street, cars skidding around me, and I yelled “Symmetra is my wife.” The only regret I have is that this skin doesn’t go far enough—I wish there was a unique voice over, and her light constructs had more unique models. Then, the regret I feel over those missed opportunities fade away as I look at Symmetra, and I realize that we live in a beautiful world with good things in it.

Ryan - A tier

Dang this skin is cool. As a Support player in Overwatch, Symmetra has always been a great loophole to still play my role and also kill lots of stuff. Now I can do that in style because this skin is fancy and neat. There are so many particle effects. I don’t like it as much as Cass, but I like it a lot.

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - B tier

I think Zarya, and to a lesser extent the Mei skin, are interesting because it raises the question of what Halloween is in Overwatch. Are they actually creatures and demons, or are they just dressing up? Zarya and Mei look like costumes, and they’re very cute ones, but Symmetra and Zen suggest that they are actually the things that go bump in the night. Maybe I’m overthinking things, and I need to just let Zarya lead me through a cleansing weightlifting routine.

Ryan - S tier

I NEVER KNEW HOW MUCH I CARED ABOUT OLIVIA NEWTON-ZARYA UNTIL THIS MOMENT. I have been mostly bored by Zarya skins up to this point. She has her puffy coat skin which is fine and her goth skins which look actively bad in my opinion. I was pretty happy to get her new robo-skin earlier this year but now I HATE THAT SKIN BECAUSE THIS IS THE ONLY GOOD ONE.

Zarya has always been cool because she defies the obnoxious “super thin sexy lady trope” (you know, the ‘Widowmaker’). To see Blizzard really go all out to make her still look Zarya while also being very 80s is awesome. Like Cass said, this one feels like a costume. I love that. I love that Zarya’s idea for a great costume is “I should go watch Grease and then show up lookin’ like Sandy to Winston’s party (see what I did? I mentioned Olivia Newton-John earlier and now we are talking about Sandy in the movie Grease, who is played by Olivia Newton-John). Zarya, your costume game is on point this year and I think you look great. I hope you never change for some stupid Danny Zuko in your life.

Blizzard Entertainment

Cass - S tier

This skin is incredible and I absolutely love how Zenyatta consistently has some of the most out there and ambitious skins. I also love the consistent fan theory that all of these costumes are actually canon and Zenyatta is just rolling around in elaborate, terrifying get ups while Genji is horrified, trapped in his own home with what he thinks is a monster. Anyways, I think Cthulhu is a little tired in the year of our lord 2017, but this is a very good and colorful take on a classic concept.

Ryan - S tier

When I saw this skin I actively yelped with glee. Did you know that, outside of the horrible racism, that H.P. Lovecraft wrote very cool stuff? Did you also know that Zenyatta is the best hero in Overwatch? Well he is! What if we put Cthulhu and Zenyatta, two very cool things, together and made them one thing? Well it would look like this and it would be REDACTED FOR STRONG LANGUAGE one of the best skins in Overwatch history. If Blizzard knew what was good for them, they would would remove this skin from my possible loot table. I will spend as much money as needed to get this. I will go broke. Watch me.